Anthozoa - Scleractinia - Actinastreidae
A very obvious feature of the genus is the granulated coenosteum that is made by the thick external parts of septa (costae) and the isolated trabeculae that can be considered as sptes abortifs, as septa that do not enter into the calicular space. Comparable and much better preserved material from the Austrian Gosau facies (Turonian-Campanian) shows an ornamentation of the septal faces as described below for Stelidioseris. Newly examined material from the Gosau area (Turonian-Campanian) shows that intercalicinal chambers (lacunes) occur only occasionally and not regularly as illustrated by Beauvais (1982).
As mentioned above, the revision of the genus carried out by Alloiteau (1954) was mainly based on the invalid neotype of Astrea decaphylla Michelin 1847, which is in reality a Stelidioseris (see Alloiteau 1954: fig. 2). Alloiteau does not talk about the formation of the coenosteum, or about the granulated surface. The ornamentation of the septal faces in Alloiteau (1954: fig. 1) corresponds to the observations made in Actinastrea species from the Gosau area (Austria) with the difference that the inclination angle of the rows is lower than shown by Alloiteau.
Alternative spelling: Actinastraea
Synonym: Enallocoenia d'Orbigny 1849
Parent taxon: Actinastreidae according to W. Kiessling 2003
Sister taxa: Agrostyliastraea, Allocoenia, Allocoeniopsis, Araucanastrea, Chondrocoenia, Coenastraea, Columactinastraea, Floriastrea, Holocoenia, Stelidioseris, Stephanastrea, Texastrea
Subtaxa: Actinastrea actinastrae, Actinastrea aequibernensis, Actinastrea asteriscus, Actinastrea bastidensis, Actinastrea benaixensis, Actinastrea besairiei, Actinastrea cavernata, Actinastrea crassoramosa, Actinastrea cribellum, Actinastrea elongata, Actinastrea engolismensis, Actinastrea exigua, Actinastrea fromenteli, Actinastrea furcata, Actinastrea geminata, Actinastrea gibbosa, Actinastrea goldfussi, Actinastrea guadalupae, Actinastrea hexacnema, Actinastrea hexamera, Actinastrea hexaphylla, Actinastrea hourcqi, Actinastrea inrasa, Actinastrea lacvivieri, Actinastrea matheyi, Actinastrea minima, Actinastrea minima, Actinastrea minutissima, Actinastrea nathani, Actinastrea octolamellosa, Actinastrea parasitica, Actinastrea pedunculata, Actinastrea pentagonalis, Actinastrea piveteaui, Actinastrea plana, Actinastrea ramosa, Actinastrea sakalavensis, Actinastrea subdecaphylla, Actinastrea trochiformis, Actinastrea urgonensis, Enallocoenia callomoni
Type: Actinastrea goldfussi
Ecology: stationary intermediate-level epifaunal photosymbiotic-suspension feeder